The disclosures herein relate generally to portable computers and more particularly to the use of infra-red (IR) data ports used in such computers.
In recent years, the Infra-Red Data Association (IrDA) was formed by a consortium of technology companies who put together specifications on how to communicate with a computer or other electronic device through an infra-red data connection. The convenience of such a communication mode is that it permits two devices to communicate without any wires. Almost every notebook computer on the market has by now adopted IR communication via an IR data port provided in the computer housing.
More recently, several manufacturers have provided notebook computers with more than one IR data port because of the many ways in which the IR communication mode is used. Typically, two such ports are provided, but a system is not limited to two ports. For example, users use their notebook computers to communicate with their desktop computers to synchronize files between the two machines. Previously, this was done via cable hook-ups which are much less convenient than the wireless communication offered through the use of IR. Typically, a first or rear mounted IR port on the notebook computer is positioned in front of the IR port mounted on the front of the desktop computer. The IR ports of both machines are aligned since IR is wireless, line-of-sight communication. Therefore, the IR ports must be within close proximity and pointed toward one another to establish communications.
In addition to synchronizing files between the desktop and notebook units, additional uses have come along. Personal electronic appointment devices (PDA's) are used to store phone numbers and appointment schedules. Although notebook computers are useable for keeping phone numbers and appointment schedules, many notebook users also carry lightweight PDA devices. Therefore, users commonly transfer data stored in their PDA's to their notebook computers and vice versa. To accomplish this, the PDA is typically placed in front of or beside the notebook computer in alignment with a second one of the notebook IR data ports which may be mounted on the front or side of the notebook computer. Many printers, projectors and desktop PC's have IR data ports allowing wireless printing or data transfer with portables. This scenario creates a problem of designating which one of the IR data ports should establish the wireless link communicating with the other devices because a technological limitation of the IR data port architecture is that only a single port can be made active at any given time.
In determining which port is to be designated to communicate with an external device at any given time, the system in the notebook computer can be set up in a user friendly manner to continuously search back and forth between the two ports to find out which device to communicate with. This is undesirable because it uses a lot of power which can cause an unwanted drain on the battery power of the notebook computer. Another problem with the looking back and forth scenario is that there may be communications received by both ports, i.e., a communication with one IR port from the PDA and another communication with the other IR port from the desktop computer. In this situation, the notebook does not have a way of knowing which device to talk to. Software can be used to direct the notebook as to which device to talk to but the software must be user friendly. After all, wireless communication is supposed to be simpler and therefore it is counterproductive to confuse a simple approach with software that is not user friendly. Present systems are difficult and confusing. It is difficult to determine when connection is made, i.e., users must first determine which port is enabled. If it is desired to change the enabled IR port to the other port location, a utility is brought up and the user chooses, e.g., the front port for presentations, or the back port for data transfer or printing. After the port change is made, the user is required to reboot the notebook computer. The utility is again brought up and the user can then communicate with the external IR device.
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus and method which provide automatic IR data port detection, switching and selection without requiring the user to reboot each time a port change is desired and which does not cause an undesirable drain on battery power stored in the notebook computer.